Good choice for Boulder Chamber CEO

The Boulder Chamber has made an excellent choice in naming John Tayer as the organization’s new president and chief executive. A search process that included applicants from around the nation, including many with experience managing chambers of commerce, concluded that the best candidate was right in the chamber’s backyard.

We couldn’t agree more. Tayer brings a background and set of skills that will serve the organization well in the years ahead:

• His role in handling public affairs and community relations for Corden Pharma Colorado and, previously, Roche Colorado Corp., means he is well-versed in issues faced by large employers within the city. Through Roche/Corden, Tayer has been involved in many community groups and organizations.

• Tayer has lived in Boulder County for 23 years; he has seen the region weather numerous economic downturns.

• Tayer also serves as a director of the Regional Transportation District for the Boulder area and has been an unwavering advocate of the area’s interests at a critical time for RTD, which is trying to figure out how to extend FasTracks to the region.

• He also has extensive contacts not only in the business community but also among community and environmental activists. Those contacts — and the trust he has engendered among all sides — should serve the chamber and the community well, demonstrating that a strong economic climate and sound environmental policy are not mutually exclusive.

That trust should prove invaluable in dealing with the most contentious issue facing Boulder in many years: possible municipalization of the electric utility. This issue has divided Boulder’s business community and the population overall, and we expect Tayer to be a calming influence, in search of consensus.